


Back in time is a wish away

by Keenir



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-14
Updated: 2012-11-22
Packaged: 2017-11-18 15:36:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle's fondest wish is granted, and everyones' problems will be over  --  if she can stop Rumplestiltskin from ever becoming the Dark One.  What's the worst that could happen?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Wish

Deep in the mines of Storybrooke, the fairies were watching with bated breath as they beheld the dwarves chipping away at the rock around the diamonds. "Looks like soon enough you ladies will be able to do anything you want to again," Grumpy said to the fairies.

The Blue Fairy knew he was speaking more to Nova than to her, but she let it slide, given the immense importance of this day. And she was watching as Grumpy turned back around and landed his pick on one of the diamonds.

...which cracked open far easier than even dwarven picks should have been able to do. And all the dwarves flopped to the ground like dropped fishes in the next breath. The fairies fell seconds later, Nova reaching for Grumpy's hand.

Those diamonds dissolved into a something which was like smoke, like water, and like itself. As it took shape to walk the earth, it yawned, a noise which sounded like a terrible explosion. And as big as Storybrooke is, with its uncountedly-many citizens, everyone in the town was able to hear the explosion.

**~~**   
**A minute earlier**   
**at Mr. Gold's shop:**

"Back again, are we?" Mr. Gold asked neighborly of the returning Prince Charming.

"I am. I thought you should know."

"Oh I'm always open to hearing the news."

"We found the diamonds," Charming said.

_Well that's not good,_ Rumpelstiltskin thought, echoing in his noggin. "Diamonds, you say?" Mr. Gold asked, leaning on the counter.

Charming nodded. "That's right. We're going to grind them up to make fairy dust, and you can't stop us."

"Oh I wouldn't dream of it," Gold said with a casual grin.

"Why?" Charming asked, suddenly nervous about Mr. Gold's seeming indifference.

"Do you know how clocks work, dearie? Calendars from our fair land?"

He nodded. "Gears inside gears inside gears. Seconds inside minutes, which are inside hours. Days, inside weeks, inside months, inside of years."

Mr. Gold nodded. "Go on."

"Years fit inside a king's reign. King-years fit inside the era of a Dark Lord."

"Precisely. And may I say your wedding was a lovely second day of the second month of the first year of your reign in my humble era," Rumpelstiltskin said.

"You may," Charming said. "But what does this have to do with the diamonds? You're as powerless here as Regina."

_Your daughter still hadn't told you, I see. Nor has Belle._ "What do you think the gear of Dark Ones fits within, dearie?"

"Nothing."

"And yet you found diamonds."

"Speak plainly!"

"You didn't find unpowdered fairy dust - you found the outer ring while It was taking a nap."

"They're in danger?"

"Oh they're most likely dead -" and the explosion's sound wave roared over them. "Yes, definately now." Rumpelstiltskin smiled. "And if you're thinking about threatening me or trying to blame me for this, don't bother."

"What is it we're dealing with now?" Charming asked.

"Something you should have left asleep."

"How do we get rid of It?"

"From what I understand, you accept Its deal," Mr. Gold said.

"What deal will It offer?" Charming asked.

"I don't know."

_"You_ don't know?"

"Correct. See, I was always willing to avoid waking It up."

**~~**

Belle was walking back home from the library, when she found herself standing just a few yards away from the entrance to the town mine. _Not a lot of happy memories here._

"Belle?" Ruby asked, standing next to her...and next to Dr. Hopper and Henry.

"How did we get here?" Henry asked. And he - like everyone else - noticed the man walking up from the depths of the mine. "Did you do this, Mr...?"

"Four is a good number," the man said. 

"Why us?" Belle asked.

"Why not?"

"That's not an answer."

"Observant."

_Is that his answer?_

To the four of them, "Know what you desire the most in all the worlds. Know it, and I will grant it to you." Then he licked his lips, "Fail, and I shall eat."

"You have a name?" Ruby asked, feeling the wolf inside her... _curling up and hiding?_

"Nothing you would know. Call me what you will. Minds require names."

Not knowing what else to call him, Belle picked the first name that came to mind - _Cthulhu._..and then hoped it wasn't entirely accurate.

"I want my mom back!" Henry said.

"She's back where we all came from, Henry," Archie said quietly.

The man gave the impression he approved. "Yes. Caution. Exercise it."

"Can you undo curses?" Ruby asked.

Sensing what thoughts that question sparked in one of the other human's minds, the man said "Yes. If it is what you want." The thought held an intriging taste, and much possibility.

"No," Archie said with more force than Henry or Ruby had seen him demonstrate. "No, we need to stem this at the source."

_Agreed,_ Belle thought.

Archie continued: "We have to get to Regina before she becomes evil. If we can talk to her -"

Ruby snorted.

"We have to try."

"Oh yes. Trying is important," the man said.

"It is," Belle said.

"Be aware," Cthulhu said.

Belle nodded.

"Be aware that you may only attempt this the once. If the historical event is unaltered, you and your companions will be returned to here, and I shall eat you last."

"And should we be successful?" Belle asked.

"Then I will not have been awoken. Then I will remain in a peaceful slumber."

"Sounds fair," Ruby said, having a bad feeling about this guy's appetite.

"Good. And go," and that was the last thing any of them heard in this world.

**~~~~~~~~~**   
**after daybreak of the 4th day of the 7th month of the 17th year of the reign of King Yr, in the era of Zoso:**

"Where are we?" Henry asked, looking around. "Why is the sky like that?"

Looking where he was looking, Belle found that she did not enjoy seeing vivid red skies by day any more now, than she had when she was growing up. "Ogres," Belle said. "That means they're approaching. It means the battle lines are coming nearer than they were.

"That doesn't make sense," Archie said. "Neither Regina nor the Whites ever lived anywhere near the battlefields."

"Hey, you know a lot of flags and stuff, right?" Ruby asked, having been looking to another direction this entire time.

"Yes," Archie and Belle both answered.

"Cool. Either of you know who that is?" Ruby asked, pointing to a flag flying over a castle between them and the one horizon which wasn't a red sky.

"No," Archie said.

"Afraid not," Belle seconded.

"Damn. Well, it was worth a tr- Whoa. _That's_ green," Ruby said, looking at the vest Archie was wearing in this time and place.

Archie looked at what he was wearing. "I haven't worn clothes like these in a long time."

"I missed you," Red said to her red cloak and favorite dress, which she was wearing.

"Ugh," Henry said.

"What's the matter?" Archie asked him.

"These are the clothes my grandpa got me for when I'm cleaning out my horse's stall in the stables."

"Pretty much my story here," Belle said, wearing similarly grubby clothes, the sort one could get muddy without concern. "Only it wasn't just one horse." _Figured it would be fun to help a guy named Hercules do some challenging chores so he could be reunited with his loved ones. But when we were almost done, I was captured by a man named Killian Jones, and then I ended up in Regina's custody for a little over twenty-eight years._

A little boy ran up to them from, Ruby assumed, the nearby village. _Or the forest. Nothing wrong with a forest._ "Hey," Ruby said.

"Hi. Are you new here?" the boy asked.

"Yeah," Henry said.

Archie looked around, focusing on behind them on the road, in case he needed to suggest their wagon and supplies were taking an awfully long time.

"I'm Henry," Henry said.

"I'm Baelfire," said the boy.


	2. Introductions afresh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day after that encounter in the bar, Rumpelstiltskin and Milah meet our heroes. And the Dark One has plans.

Zoso looked down the hill at the local boy welcoming the four strangers to the village.

"Fresh blood," Hordor said eagerly.

"The King's Law," Zoso said as a reminder. "Passed when he took the throne. Itinerants may not be drafted."

Hordor grumbled. " _His majesty has always been adamant that his Law ever be violated, even to save his kingdom -- 'law separates us from ogres' and all that shit._ "Your advice, then?"

A smile could be seen in the shadow of the cowl. "If they acquire places to sleep and friends or confidences..."

"Then they cannot be called itinerants, and may be drafted," Hordor said. "But why should we bother with them? There's only one of them we can draft - two if we lower the minimum age again."

"Three of them are cursed, Hordor. Two of them may become creatures." _And one has embraced the Dark One - though she is a stranger to me._

"Useful creatures?"

"Magic is not cast to make things useless," Zoso said dryly.

"And where are they from?"

Zoso held back a sigh. "Befriend them, Hordor, and perhaps they will tell you."

"Why - ? Hey, where are you going?"

That earlier smile grew. "Why Hordor, are you standing in the way of me patrolling the lands of the king as I was bid do?"

Hordor gulped. And said in a very small voice, "No," and moved to the side, just in case there was any doubt in that Dark Lord mind.

Zoso started to pass, but then paused his horse beside Hordor's. "I will test them," Zoso said, "and if they fail my test, it will be in such a way that provides you an excuse to do away with them," and let his horse resume walking away.

**~~**

"Do you know him?" Ruby asked Belle as Henry walked with Baelfire up ahead, the village nearing more and more. "A friend of yours?"

"I know _of_ him," Belle said. "And we all know his father."

"Wait," Archie said, mentally reviewing the wishes which had been suggested, and the one he had made in his heart. "If we came to a point in time when Regina hadn't yet turned evil - she learned it and magic from Rumpelstiltskin."

Belle nodded. "Baelfire was his son. Is."

Ruby's inner wolf wasn't the only part of her brimming with curiosity. _How is this Baelfire not running the entire realm? He become a monk or something?_

"Was? He died?" Archie asked.

"Nobody knows," Belle said.

"What about...?" Ruby asked.

"Rumpelstiltskin doesn't know," Belle said. "That's why he brought magic back to Storybrooke - in the hopes of locating his son."

_So how far back did we go?_ Archie wondered, and asked that. He frowned, doing the math in his head, and stopping when he realized how many question marks the equation had.

In her most expressive, "I don't know," Belle said. "But I know that if Baelfire is taking us to his family... then either Rumpelstiltskin is still a mortal man, or has only recently become the Dark One."

Ruby could hear the longing and wistfulness in those words 'still a mortal man', but she didn't call Belle on it. _I know there's something with the two of you back in Storybrooke, but I didn't think it was... Shit, though, no wonder you didn't think my wolf was that scary._

"So," Archie asked, "what happened to Rumpelstiltskin that the four of us could solve?"

"We can work together," Belle said.

"To...?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know. Rumpelstiltskin only mentioned his son twice to me, and his family once - he told me that he had lost his son, like he had lost his wife. Until we came to Storybrooke, I thought his family had died around the time he became the Dark One."

"Our job's to keep a family together," Archie said. "Sweet, kind of like Quantum Leap."

**~~**

"No, I don't know that game either," Henry said. _I used to think this world was like Earth, only with, you know, royalty and spells. But I've never heard of most of the games Baelfire's mentioned - and he sounded excited about them when I asked how they were played._

"Oh," Baelfire said.

"My, uh, my mom's always been busy, and I never really had any friends I could play with."

"What about your dad?"

"My mom's not married." _Which was true for both of them,_ Henry reflected.

"Like the Brier kids," Baelfire said. "Their mom was going to marry their dad when he got back from the War."

"Uh, yeah, I guess. My mom doesn't really talk about my dad."

"Which one of them's your mom?" he asked Henry. "The cloak, or the trousers?"

_Wait, you think Ruby or Belle are my mom?_ "They're my babysitters - my mom's back with the wagon our stuff is all in," Henry said.

"Wow. You rich?"

"Not really." _At least, Emma's not. I think Regina is, or at least was. Has there ever been a_ poor _evil queen?_ "What's your mom like?"

"People say she's pretty. I don't think she's happy," Baelfire said. "But who is, in Wartime?"

"Yeah," Henry agreed.

"I think she'd be happier if dad hadn't been a coward."

"Did he survive?"

Baelfire looked at Henry weird. "He ran away." _Which part of 'coward' didn't you get?_

Henry saw a man sitting at the edge of the village - a man who shouted "BAE!" as soon as he saw Baelfire with the travelers.

"I'm right here!" Baelfire shouted back. To Henry, "That's my dad. Pllllease don't ask him about his leg."

"I won't; promise," Henry said quietly.

"Thanks."

"I've got things like that in my life too. So, what's your dad's name?"

"Rumpelstiltskin. My mom's Milah."

"Cool names."

"I suppose."

_Wow. And I thought I had a long-suffering childhood._

**~~**

"I'm Ruby," Ruby said as the introductions were finishing up. _Wow, someone my height,_ Ruby thought, looking at Milah. "And this is Belle," clapping her on the shoulder. "She doesn't always shake hands."

"It's nice to meet you," Belle said. _I thought I'd be braver than this. So why can't I look him or his wife in the eyes? Yeah, maybe that's why - as complicated as it was, back home, it was just the two of us. Now..._ Belle took a breath and said, "I think I just need to sit down. We've been on our feet a while now."

Milah smiled. "I'll see if anyone has any spare rooms you can use."

"Til then, you can rest your feet in our house," Rumpelstiltskin said.

"I couldn't," Belle said quickly. "I mean, I don't want to impose."

"Rest your feet, not your head," Milah said, and Belle wasn't sure which side of the argument she was on. To her son, Milah said, "Bae, could you play with Henry while I'm out?"

"Okay," Baelfire said, and he and Henry ran to the edge of the village to play with the other kids, _as much as they'll let me. Maybe I can get a bigger role now that I've brought a new kid._

"So," Rumpelstiltskin said, once he and Archie had walked Belle to his house.

Archie nodded. "So." Intellectually, he knew this Rumpelstiltskin wasn't capable of turning him into a snail or anything. But he had lived too long in the shadow of large and powerful things - granted, usually humans - to be at ease.

"Not what you were expecting?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.

"Not really, no." _Maybe Quantum Leap wasn't the best analogy for us...maybe it's more Terminator._

Rumplestiltskin shrugged. "It's alright. Our village used to be a lot livelier... before the drafts were instituted."

_Drafts?_ and Archie rummaged through the long years of his pre-Storybrooke life for what that could mean in this world. "I suppose that would do in just about anywhere."

"I wouldn't doubt it. But what's it like where you're from?" he asked, curious.

_Umm...do I tell him about life in Storybrooke, or in the wagon I spent my childhood in?_

**Meanwhile...**

"What's it like where you're from?" Milah asked Ruby as they headed to the second house to inquire about lodgings for Ruby and her friends. 

"Oh its cold. A lot colder than here," Ruby said. "You ever see snow?" and between inquiries, she built up a mental picture of life in the snowy forested mountains. Sans any mention of werewolves or angry villagers. 

"I would love to see that," Milah said. "Or anywhere else." 

"Never been outside the village?" 

"Outside our district, no. I was born two villages westward of here. Does it show?" 

_I'm assuming you're talking about being outside your village or district._ "I'm the same, actually. How do you think I could describe my childhood home so well? Ruby asked with a smile to indicate it was intended in the spirit of friendship. 

"What finally decided you?" Milah asked. 

"Why'd I up and leave one day?" 

Milah nodded. 

"Circumstances beyond my control, mostly. But on the plus side, I made a new friend right before I had to move - and we're still friends." _If you don't count the years between us right now._

"I wonder...No," Milah said. 

"Go ahead and ask," Ruby said. 

"Do you think you - and your friends maybe - could speak to my husband? I've tried asking him to leave this village, just the three of us - Rumpelstiltskin, Bae, and I - but he refuses. Says we have a 'life' here." 

"We could put in a word," Ruby said. "Any idea where you'd want to go?" 

"Not here," Milah said definitively. 

"Definately know that feeling," Ruby nodded. 

"If I may ask, are people fighting the ogres where you live?" 

"No," and meant both her time and Storybrooke both. 

"Sounds like a good place to live." _No reason for the past to repeat, or for anyone who knows Rumpelstiltskin to find us._

Ruby wasn't sure what she could say to that. 


	3. Perhaps a change of scenery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The problem with leaving for new lands isn't the destination - entirely.
> 
> Sometimes, its in us.

Hordor paced his bedchambers once his rounds were complete, he had eaten, and was now dressed for bed. _Befriend them? Make an acquaintaince of one of those four travelers?_ he wondered. He knew better than to ask why he should do it - the riddles of the Dark One were like those of their Duke: those who accomplished the riddles, were rewarded; those who failed the riddles and survived, were left to go on as they had before.

He looked in his mirror, noting what he beheld. _Another year older, little Hordor_ , he told himself. _And even if the strangers do not think it odd that you would look kindly on one of theirs, the villagers' reactions would give it away._

Hordor growled and threw the cloth back over the mirror, and only then went to sit on his bed. "How am I to do this? And what is the Dark One testing them with?"

_And are the two in fact the same one?_

And then Hordor had an idea: "I'll bring her to the Duke's Palace, show off its opulence to her. Let her be impressed." _And how could anyone fail to be impressed with him who is the right hand of the Duke, controller of the Dark One? One day, my lord and master the Duke will overthrow the King, and then we shall rise even further. It was a sound strategy for my grandparents, so it has been for me as well._

**~~**  
 **Late Afternoon, the village:**

"Hey, welcome back," Archie said.

"Hey," Ruby said and waved to Milah who excused herself to go do some work with some other ladies of the village. "Find anything out?"

"Just that the local breed of cricket don't sing, that our initial impression was right about there not being any men here my age -"

"And not many women either in that bracket."

"- and this duchy is the only part of the local kingdom which uses the wolfstime calendar," Archie said.

"Them and me both," Ruby said. While most kingdoms in their time - and by the looks of it, in this time as well - used a system of weeks to divide the months into smaller periods... the wolfstime calendars focused on two times of the month, measuring how long before and after the New and Full Moons the day is. Wolfstime, and its opposite, Eyestime, for the ease you could see every star in the sky.

"I take it you found something out?" Archie asked.

_How do you do that?_ Ruby thought of asking, but she knew the answer already - his inner cricket. So she just nodded. "Milah _really_ wants to head for the hills," Ruby said. "Or pretty much anywhere else that isn't here."

"Baelfire doesn't want to leave his friends?" Archie guessed at why she hadn't left already. _I imagine Henry will confirm that when he and Baelfire come back later._

"No clue. It's Rumpelstiltskin who keeps shooting down her ideas to leave." Ruby made a face - 

_Trying to plead?_ Archie thought, trying to decipher what expression Ruby clearly wasn't experienced at making. 

\- and Ruby said, "Think you can talk to him, Archie?" 

"I can give it a try, certainly," Archie said. 

Rather than risk Archie's cricket spotting anything, she said, "I may have...whetted her appetite...to, you know, leave," Ruby said. "In my defense, I was just trying to sympathize with her. Make friends." 

"Its okay," Archie said, nodding. "To make friends, we have to open up - and sometimes that makes things not go the way we intended." 

"Yeah," Ruby muttered, knowing how true that tended to be. "Thanks. For talking to him. It'd be weird if I did it." _And I don't think Belle's up to a conversation right now._

"Oh its still weird for me." 

"Really?" 

"Yeah. A fairy granted my wish and turned me into a cricket." 

"And the Dark One doesn't like fairies," Ruby said. "How about crickets?" 

"He seemed more amused than anything else. But let's just hope that both are aspects of him as a Dark One, and not him as a person." 

"If he does anything to you, Archie, I'll deal with him." 

"Thanks. But I'd rather you got him and his family somewhere safe. My dying wish, if it comes to that." 

"Only if it can be granted without you dying." 

Archie wasn't sure what to say to that, as it sounded like there were shades of fondness and liking to it, but he was understandably out of practice at recognizing it when it was aimed at him -- one didn't need many fingers to count how many people were romantically attracted to crickets. So Archie nodded, and started to head for the door so as to talk to Rumpelstiltskin. 

"Archie?" Ruby asked. 

He paused, and looked back to her. "Yes?" 

"I know we were told what would happen if we failed..." _Eaten._ "But what happens if we're successful?" 

"I hope it depends on _how_ we're successful," Archie said. 

_Eh?_ "You mean it depends on how successful we are?" Ruby asked. 

"Kind of. Not exactly. Umm..." Archie said. "None of us know when Rumpelstiltskin became the Dark One. And so far we don't know if it would change anything for him to become the Dark One a few years sooner or later." 

"So...we stop him, then." 

_If I were given to gamble, I would bet that none of us liked when others denied us the opportunity to chose, particularly when it involved an important part of our future. Though that's the job of parents._ And he had himself a little smile at the thought of the four of them, their little band, acting as parents of the great and mighty Rumpelstiltskin. To Ruby, Archie said, "The problem is that none of us know how he became the Dark One." _Oh, there've been rumors, fables, tall tales all down the centuries...but we may as well put salt on Ruby's feet if we're going to rely on myths._

"Yeah," Ruby agreed, not pleased about the point he made. "But we'd all still exist, right? We wouldn't blink out of existance?" _Rumpelstiltskin's older than all of us, even Archie, older than some kingdoms. And we have choices -- Granny once told me there were three young men vying for her hand when she was my age, and one became my grandfather - if Granny had picked one of the other two, she'd still have a werewolf granddaughter, but would it be me?_

"I shouldn't think so," Archie said. "Or fade away." 

**~~**

Archie entered the house, seeing Belle sitting at the table staring at her hands, and Rumpelstiltskin hard at work spinning wool. 

"Archie," Belle said, getting up as he walked by, and she headed for the door, shut it. 

"Can we talk?" Archie asked Rumpelstiltskin. 

"Of course," Rumpelstiltskin said. "She's still staring at me, isn't she?" 

Archie noted that Rumpelstiltskin's back had been to the door and the table, so Archie looked back, and "She left," Archie said. "So no," he said, taking a seat beside the spinner. "To be honest, I don't think she's ever seen anyone spinning wool or anything else before." 

"Sheltered life?" 

"Very," Archie said. 

"I see. Though I suspect that's not why you came in here." 

"You're right. This is about something your wife Milah told Ruby -" 

"Your wife." 

Archie blinked, and nearly dropped his glasses. "Why do you think she's my wife? Because of Henry?" 

"No," Rumpelstiltskin said. "Because you look at her the way I used to look at Milah. The way I still do now, when I can." 

"Well, Ruby was talking to Milah, and -" 

"And Milah expressed a desire to go leave." 

_I take it this is a common conversation in this house?_ "That's what I think it boiled down to." 

"Milah believes in what cannot be," Rumpelstiltskin said. 

"Surely nothing is unachievable," Archie said. 

"She wants us to move." 

"Sometimes that can help." 

"It would change nothing. There would be a call-to-arms or something else there which would bring my cowardice to the fore of attention once again." He sighed. "Milah wants us to go to a place where no-one knows that I am a coward. But I know that, no matter how far we go or how long we travel, the three of us would know it, even if no-one else ever did. More likely, one day, I would invariably remind my family and silently inform everyone there, of it." 

"A matter of when, not if," Archie said. 

"Yes," Rumpelstiltskin agreed. 

"I used to be the same way. I knew that, no matter where I went or how I got there, I wouldn't be able to be anything other than my parents' son. And all that being their son meant to me." 

"Well thank you, Mr. Hopper, now I'm even more apprehensive." 

Archie said, "I wasn't aiming for that. What I'm saying is that I was stuck that way, unable and unwilling to do anything about my situation - and it wasn't a bucket of sunshine - until I was willing to...to change." His cricket-innate honesty wouldn't let him say 'until I changed.' 

"Archie Hopper, look at me. At my spine. At my skimpy arms. And most particularly at my limp. What could I possibly change into?" 

_Suddenly his Dark One personality makes more sense,_ Archie thought. _Moving around in all the ways he couldn't do as a mortal man._ "You can only change when you're willing to change." 

"Willing _and_ able," Rumpelstiltskin ammended. "As my late lamented fellow soldiers used to say, a legless man cannot run into battle." 

"But he could still fight," Archie said. 

**~~**

Belle walked out of the house, feeling like she was fleeing. 

She had spent her time examining her hand, turning it over and over like Rumpelstiltskin had after catching her and setting her down. _I am a coward,_ Belle decided. 

As the house was near enough to the woods, Belle let her feet carry her to the nearest of the sizable trees at the forest edge, and she just leaned back against the trunk. _I am the coward. I thought I would be up to this, thought I would be able to do this, and I can't even... All that time I tried to make him normal, to end his curse - and I can't manage two words when he's perfectly mortal._ She closed her eyes and just stood there. 

Suddenly Belle found her feet refused to move, and her throat felt wrapped in a thick scarf of air. "Wh...?" she managed to ask. 

"You can still breathe," Zoso said, stepping out of the shadows. "Your vocal cords are discouraged, however. Nod." 

Belle complied, nodding. "Who?" being sufficient for her. 

He ignored the question. "How are you here? You are definately not the Time Traveler." 

She looked at him. 

The Dark One let her speak. 

"I'm not the time traveler - I'm _a_ time traveler, yes," Belle said. 

He drew back, but his magic did not lessen or weaken. "Enormous forces are required for that manner of movement - in its smallest dose, it would shave flat a large continent." 

"I don't know. I only know that we were sent back." 

"For what reason?" the Dark One asked. 

From what she knew of Dark Ones from direct observation and reading the lore, Belle knew that lying would be worse than futile. "We were sent here to be sure someone doesn't become evil - a Queen Regina," Belle said. "But we were sent too far, as Regina isn't born for at least another century." 

"That is all?" 

"I suppose." 

A brief constriction, then relaxing back to where it was. "Do not play," Zoso warned. "Answer my question," the Dark One said to her, "or you will evermore cast no shadow." 

"You'd kill me?" Belle asked. 

"Hm," he smiled. "The dead cast shadows both physical and memorial." 

"A curse, then?" she asked. 

"Yes, that doesn't seem likely to intimidate you, seeing as your companions are all cursed in one way or another. So I will activate the dormant curse of one of them," the Dark One said, raising one hand, fingers splayed. 

"I don't know the reasons of the one who sent us here - he told us he was sending us to when we wished for, but this isn't Queen Regina's time." 

"Who sent you?" 

"I don't know!" Belle asserted. "He never gave us his name." 

That splayed hand, gloved the entire time, was lowered. "Speculate. Guess." 

"He thinks we can help the war effort against the ogres?" Belle asked. 

A pregnant silence, which gave way to the Dark One saying, "Only if your cursed friends are multiplied. Which could be accomplished," and he let go of Belle, turned, and walked away into the darkness. 

"What??" Belle asked, calling after him. "Why would you - ? What are you saying?" she ended up shouting into the forest. 

"Belle?" Henry asked, standing next to her. 

Belle looked, and saw Henry standing there, Baelfire next to him. "Henry," Belle said. "Di-Did you see him?" 

"Who?" 

"Let's head home," Belle said. 

**~~~**  
 **But that night was the first night of eyestime...**

Lying on the carpets he had been graciously loaned for the duration of his stay, Archie woke up with a start and a fright and a pain in his hands. Hands that, before his eyes, were turning a sulfurous green. As the pain and change left Archie no option but to bolt out of the house and into the woods as fast as his legs would carry - without breaking the door, he wouldn't let himself do that. 

Ruby's eyes watched it happen, saw him go. 


	4. I put the choice to you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why the Dark One hates the Time Traveler... And what the Duke does to friends.

The Dark One roared in his mind, a silent wordless scream that would have toppled mountains - had he not been tethered, bound to obey the man who held his Dagger: the duke.

When he had exhausted himself, Zoso reflected that, _There was only one Time Traveler. He toppled the Eloi Empire of my predecessor's era. He tried to use his Morlocks to destroy me - and I trapped him and his armada of Morlocks deep in the fires of the Netherworld for all time._

_If there are more time travelers now, then more invasions are possible. And the Time Traveler may have an escape to his captivity._

"No," the Dark One said with great finality. "A message needs to be sent: time travel will not be permitted." But he could not kill the four travelers, however much he now saw a need to do so: binding of his Dagger prevented him. "They need to move against the Duke... that will free my hands."

It was a bonus that the four had found residence in the same village that housed one of the desperate souls Zoso had an eye on. He had always kept an alert eye on potential successors, all throughout his era... _To lose friends, finding they were so dangerous - and when they had been around his child! - that will render the soul even more ideal._

"But first, I have been bidden to always inform the Duke of things I find, things I learn," Zoso said to nobody, and went up in a puff of smoke.

******

The Dark One reappeared in the bedchamber of the Duke, standing between the bed and a wall map of the kingdom, with the duchy prominent within it. _He wants me to remove the dragon from the kingdom's border, to make his king indebted to him...I told him that, if the dragon vanishes, the ogres will be rush in and be able to box in the entire kingdom. Thereby making all his plans useless._ "Duke. My Commander," using the form of address he had been commanded to call him.

Zoso did not know that one day, far in the future, the dragon would be slain by George, who would turn the fertile land into his kingdom.

The occupants of the room woke up swiftly. The Duke's wife and mistress each lowered their gaze to avoid meeting his eyes. The Duke had no such compunction, and looked right at him as he said, "What do you have for me, Dark One?"

"An enemy, my commander," the Dark One said. "One who has brought a pair of powerful figures, both cursed, into your realm."

"I see. And how did they slip past your vigilance?"

"They did not. I have been quietly ascertaining. I did not wish to disturb your slumber until I had learned how dangerous the curses were, and how they were being controlled."

"Excellent, then. Tell me, what sort of curses are these?"

"Transformational," the Dark One said. "At night, they become ravenous and powerful creatures. Their value to the war effort cannot be understated."

"Either war effort?" the Duke asked.

"Anything where the fighting is quick and definitive and over in less than a day, is rarely called a war, my commander."

The Duke smiled. Then the smile went away. "You said 'at night.' Are they presently under control?"

"That has been the case thus far. If it continues tonight, then perhaps tomorrow, you could invite them to join your army."

"And if they refuse, then the cursed ones are taken so they may be protected from that enemy, so they may join my army." The Duke frowned, "While if you are wrong, Dark One, and they have already begun an attack within my lands..." his voice threatening.

"Then they will have proven their untrustworthy nature, and have brought their destruction down upon themselves."

"Again, you said 'at night.' What threat do they pose by day?"

"No more than an ordinary peasant does," Zoso informed the Duke. "And they have friends in that strata."

_Monster-controllers...befriending peasants. What strange times we live in,_ thought the Duke, forming an idea of how to handle this.  
 **~~**  
 **In the woods:**

She followed him. At a large head start on his part, an advantage Ruby could handle because of the distinctly... _Archie_ smell wafting through her nostrils.

Into the woods. Over a small hill or two. Past a stream full of fish. Down the next hill...

That was when Ruby heard the sound of a cricket. And it was not a small cricket by the sound of it. Ruby turned around, and just saw a good-sized tree. Then she looked up the trunk...

_There you are,_ she thought. His arms and legs had given way to the multiple joints of cricket limbs, and his eyes had something going on there... but otherwise he looked completely human.

_And clinging head-down to a tree,_ Ruby thought. Listening to the string instrument sounds produced when Archie opened his mouth, Ruby thought _I bet he's saying 'go, run, I'm dangerous, I don't want to be seen like this.' I've felt like that too. That and it didn't really sound like a 'Yum, now I can have a midnight snack' song._

Archie tried scaring her into leaving. But it is rather hard to be intimidating when your roars sound like violins. So he stopped trying to roar. So he jumped.

Landed right behind her. He had turned around in mid-leap, so he was looking right into her eyes.

"You can hear me, right?" Ruby asked him, standing her ground.

He swiped one clawed paw - tarsus - through the space between their faces.

Unimpressed, "I'd have done that too, if my change wasn't too fast to give me time to do fun stuff like this."

Archie hopped back a few feet in a single move, two of his hands pointing to the ground between them.

_Wait, you did all that intimidation stuff - while writing with your foot?_ The word GO was carved into the topsoil now. "Showoff," Ruby said.

He glared at her.

She stared back.

After a few minutes of that, Archie crouched down, his thorny knuckles resting on the ground, his eyes looking at them.

Before Ruby's eyes, spots and splotches of red began to take over where green had been, and where green hadn't been, like the increasingly armored look of _I'd think back to high school biology classes for what it means when a cricket or grasshopper turns red...but those are all false memories, right?_

"Doesn't matter what you turn or grow, Archie," Ruby said. "I don't leave my friends." Though her mind entertained a possibility: _If you attack me, would I turn into a giant wolf during wolfstime and a giant cricket during eyestime, or would I turn into a half-cricket half-wolf during both eyestime and wolfstime?_ And she put the question to him.

All the color faded from Archie, like a face going pale.

Ruby sat down. _I can wait._

**~~~**   
**In the village:**   
**very early Morning:**

As she helped him walk out of the woods, him leaning on her for support, "So, what was the deal with the red body paint?" Ruby asked.

"I was, uh, turning into a locust," Archie said, his legs sore and unaccustomed to being cricket again. "It happened a few times before. When I was little. I'd get a ravenous appetite, bright colors, quills, and never much of a conversationalist."

"Huh. Wait, quills? Like a porcupine?"

"I honestly don't know what else to call them - horns or antlers, maybe; but they're at points all over my body."

"Wicked."

"I believe that's the point."

And they both smiled at the unwitting play on words in that last sentance.

Not long after they got back within the village grounds, a herald arrived.

"By order of the Duke," the herald informed that part of the village, his voice loud enough to wake people up as he was relaying the message, "I am here to tell you this. A secret danger has arrived recently in the duchy, a cursemaster covertly seeking to harm and blight the villages. Any who brings the dangerous enemy to his duchal forces or his duchal forces to the dangerous enemy, will be called brother by the Duke and granted lands and titles commiserate with such an honor. The entire family of the newly-titled individual will be likewise blessed, and shall be presented before His Majesty the King, and introduced as Most Honored And Brave."

"Wow," Ruby said as the herald continued on for a few more minutes before moving to another part of the village to say it all over again. " _I'm_ almost tempted to turn us in."

"Looks like we had an effect," Archie said. "Question is..." and he noticed that Milah, Baelfire, and Rumpelstiltskin were standing at the door to their home. Archie was a good enough student of human expressions to know what was on their faces: unlike most of the villagers, who just got on with their day and their lives...these three were thinking about what they had just heard.


	5. Call me Ahab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Terminator said it best: "Come with me if you want to live."

**Nearing midday...**

Seeing the large squad of soldiers approaching, Henry said, "That doesn't look good."

"No it does not," Ruby agreed.

"Is that how it looked when my mom's soldiers came for you?"

"Trust me, Henry, your mom and her soldiers weren't the worst things we had to deal with."

And Ruby saw Archie went over to Belle while he was thinking, _I really didn't want to have to do this. But it looks like..._ Archie held Belle by the shoulders and upper arms, and looked right into her eyes as he told her this: "Belle, you have to go to the docks. Run, and see if anyone has seen a Captain Ahab. If he's not there, then Killian Jones. Tell him this," and whispered something in her ear.

While Ruby wasn't comfortable seeing a large number of armed men heading towards her, she held her ground - unlike Belle, who ran away before anyone could stop her. Not for the first time, Ruby wondered if there was any way to summon the wolf into action, without it being a wolfstime.

What the man in the lead of the soldiers said in a loud voice to the villagers who were out watching, was, "Your lord the Duke has sent us to gather Rumpelstiltskin and his family for promotion to title. The rest of you may go about your business."

The man in the lead then stopped a few steps away from Ruby. "I am Hordor. What is your name?"

"Ruby," Ruby said.

"I have orders to bring you and your friends to the ducal palace. However, I wish to escort you personally there."

 _No matter where I go, or if I want it or not, guys still flirt with me. Some more baldly than others._ "And if I say no, Hordor?" Ruby asked.

"Then you walk with your friends. But it _is_ a long walk. Observe," and gestured to where Milah and Baelfire were being assisted onto horses of their own.

"Huh. Henry! Come here," she said, and Hordor saw the boy come over. "This nice man's going to give you his horse," Ruby told him.

"I'm supposed to ride up to the castle?" Henry asked, eager to, as his grandfather kept putting it off. _The only reason I know anything about equestrianship is because my mom signed me up for horseriding lessons for a bunch of years._

Ruby nodded.

"No, I can't!" Henry said to her. "I'm training to be a knight. Knights-in-training have to walk - right?" directing the question part to Hordor.

"We all have had to, yes. A long walk such as this would indeed test your mettle," Hordor said. "But what every student must know before he may become a knight, is that you do not refuse the invitation of a lady."

A neighboring soldier dismounted and held out his hands to give Henry a boost up to the saddle.

"You've got them well-trained," Ruby said. "They housebroken?"

"Of course."

"Fine," Henry grumbled, and got into the saddle by himself.

"Nice," Ruby granted Hordor.

 _I strongly suspect her other tests will not be as easy,_ Hordor thought. "Will you come?" Hordor asked her.

Ruby glanced over at Archie before telling Hordor, "I'm not riding behind you, and I'm not riding in front of you."

Hordor gave a nod. To the soldier riding beside him, Hordor said, "Give her your horse," in a tone that brooked no opposition; the soldier obeyed, hopping off his horse and handing the reins to Ruby.

 _Did_ not _see that coming,_ Ruby thought as she slid up into the saddle. "And my friends?"

"Guests, to witness the promotion of the family," Hordor said. "Therefore, we'll meet them at the ducal palace."

"You're sure?"

"If anyone attempts to waylay us or them, the Dark One will destroy the assaulter. By orders of the Duke."

"Comforting," Ruby said. "Then lets go," riding alongside Hordor and Milah and Baelfire and Henry and Rumpelstiltskin.

**~~~~**  
 **At the docks:**

After leaving the fifth bar, Belle was starting to wonder why she had been sent here. _Could Archie have sent me away for my own protection? But then why not tell Ruby or Henry to help me search?_ Had she been wrong about -

Belle froze where she was.

Magic was not the culprit this time. No, it was the feel of a steel blade's edge against the back of her neck.

"I hear you're looking for me," she was told by whomever was holding that blade.

 _I remember you. You captured me, thinking to use me against Rumpelstiltskin... and Regina kicked your ass and took me away from you._ "Are you Captain Ahab?" Belle asked.

"Not being called that in many a year," he said, slowly walking around her, drawing no blood from Belle's neck or throat. When he was in her field of view, he paused and gave a grand one-armed presentation. "Captain Killian Jones. 'Ahab' to very few. To you?"

Rather than shake her head, Belle said, "No. No, I was asked to give you a message."

"Normally this is where I would say 'pity' and express disinterest in hearing said message. But you know my _subnomen_ , and that's not something I can let pass."

"Does that mean you want to hear what I was asked to tell you?" she asked.

"And who sent you, parrot?" Jones asked.

"Someone we both know," Belle said, thinking she understood why Archie had sent her rather than come himself.

"Oh really? Who would travel in the circles you and I respectively move in?"

When she was young, Belle had read tales purportedly of past eras, when men and women would go to ask questions of an Oracle, whose answer would foretell their future. _But what if he doesn't believe me?_ Belle worried.

"Well?" Jones asked.

Before she answered, Belle closed her eyes a moment and only a moment. She then informed Killian that, "There is a... I don't know what the word is, but if you fail, the Dark One will be in your debt; and if you succeed, you'll have his power."

"And what makes you think I want power?" Killian asked her.

"What do you do as a pirate, if you don't take control of ships or people or treasure?" Belle asked.

"Well put," he granted her. "So, should I do this, I then would have the Dark One to do my bidding, as is said of the Duke?"

Belle nodded.

"Rather takes out all the fun of life's challenges, not being able to do them yourself."

She smiled like she knew something he didn't - a trick she had learned as part of her education as minor nobility. "I never said you _had to_ have the Dark One do everything for you."

Killian Jones looked at her a long moment, and then he began to nod. "I see. The ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card," he said.

"Exactly," and felt a little guilty about adding this next part: "In our mortal world, there is always someone with a bigger arsenal. If he doesn't like you, you can have him be a water bug."

"She. But I take your meaning. What's your name?"

"Belle."

"Well then, Belle, let me gather my men, and we'll be off."

"To the Duke's castle."

"Was there a plan?"

"Just to make sure you came."

Killian grinned rakishly. "Best not disappoint, then."

**~~**  
 **Shortly after being walked into the castle:**

Ruby had been invited to take a tour of the ducal palace's riches. Rumpelstiltskin had been escorted in the group ahead of them. _To fit him for his new clothes of state and title,_ Archie knew; that was the official story. _Unofficially, the Duke or the Dark One or whomever, put Milah and Baelfire with me and Henry in case either of us try anything, it alienates Rumpelstiltskin from anyone who survives of our little group._ Some parts of that plan didn't make much sense to Archie.

"Dr. Hopper?" Henry asked. 

"Yeah?" Archie said. 

"Who's Ahab?" Henry asked. "He wasn't in my book." 

"He wouldn't be," Archie said. "One of the travels I took with Geppetto, we ended up on Captain Jones' ship. He told me he once had a great love, and that Geppetto was the spitting image of how she had described her late son. The captain mentioned at one point that no-one called him by an old nickname - Ahab." 

"That's not much of a nickname." 

_Could have been a childhood moniker, or a pet name, or... He never said._ "Good point - what was yours again?" 

"Okay, point made." 

_That's my job._

"But if Jones was alive when you were watching Geppetto..." Henry said. 

"As was Rumpelstiltskin," Archie said. 

"What?" Baelfire asked. 

"What is going on?" Milah asked. 

Archie sighed. "We...we're from the future," and wasn't sure how to explain further, not without lying, or taking too long in explaining - and still being accused of lying. 

"We're from the future, and we're friends with Rumpelstiltskin in the future," Henry said. "This right here, today, - this is what happened the day he was cursed by the Dark One to watch his family die." 

_Thank the god and gods for Henry's ability to spin a good story!_

"And the Dark One never let Rumpelstiltskin die - so they would always be apart." 

_Technically not a lie,_ Archie thought proudly. 

"What?" Milah asked. "Why didn't you tell us this before?" 

"We were hoping it wouldn't happen - there's a chance of changing history when one goes back in time," Archie said. And that was true, insofar as it was attested by a lot of tv series and movies he had seen before the curse was broken. 

"So only you can change things?" 

"No. Oh no. For you, it's all still unfolding. It's the past to us." 

"I see," Milah said, and winced, clutching her stomach. 

"Momma?" Baelfire asked. 

"I'll be okay," she said. "Breakfast disagrees with me, though." Quieter, she said to Archie, "If trouble comes, get him to safety. You understand me?" 

Archie nodded. "That's always been my job." _Geppetto, Pinnochio, Henry, now Baelfire._

"I need to go," Milah said to the soldiers, one of whom grumbled but said to follow him and it was this way to the toilets. 


	6. The Gathering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is in the same building. But who will fall on the sword, and who will save the day, now that Archie is a beast and Belle has been lost?

As Hordor escorted her through the varied display rooms of the ducal palace, Ruby saw riches after riches, _the sort of wealth that could have bought off everybody but Regina and Midas,_ Ruby suspected, _maybe Mulan's emperor-regent too._ In the room they were in now, he informed her how each tapestry told a story of what it meant - but also where it was from, and what it had taken to come to be on these walls.

"What's this one?" Ruby asked, looking at the cetus-and-grain tapestry. _Looks like a whale or sea monster...and grain from a harvest._

"The Duke hails from a cadet branch of a line descended directly from the men of the Arthurian Round Table," Hordor said. "This and this alone was what his ancestor was permitted to take." _Not lands or wealth or anything else, not even horses. And the Duke will soon be able to undo that injustice._ "Pretty, isn't it?"

But Ruby's nose told her that there was something behind that tapestry. Something metalic and heavy with the spices of magic. She sneezed. "I like it," she said with a sniffle. _VERY strong magic there._

**~~**

_I'm beginning to wish Rumpelstiltskin hadn't been born in this part of the world,_ Belle thought sourly as she turned yet another corner, and was faced with another set of doors. This was an age of great bloodshed for this part of the continent, with some historical accounts suggesting that as many people died from political scheming among the dukes and princes of the humandom, as died from actual combat with the ogres. _Ergo, this maze of a ducal palace. Makes me almost wish for the architectural simplicity of the ducal castle I grew up in._ Belle stopped for a moment when she realized what she had thought there, and then said, "Gods," with a shake of her head.

 _Show me a map, or give me a travel puzzle, and I could solve it easily. But I never have it easy on foot,_ Belle knew. _And this place is horrid._

Captain Jones had been with her less than five minutes ago, him and a steady trickle of his men sliding into the ducal palace from outside. _Speed getting here was an important issue, and the Captain certainly knew who were the fastest way here - and they owed him favors already._ But now Belle was wandering the labrynth alone; Captain Killian Jones was somewhere in the place, but she had no idea of where... _hoping its where he's supposed to be._

**~~**

Hordor opened his eyes as he slowly pushed himself up off the floor. _Ruby is gone,_ he noted with disappointment that she had not stayed with him to defend him from attacks while he was vulnerable.

Looking about the room, he noticed that many of the tapestries had been ruffled and shoved to one degree or another. But only one was missing: the cetus-and-grain tapestry.

He did not think much of the fact that the alcove behind where the tapestry normally stood, was also empty. There were things even Hordor had not been privy to.

**~~**  
 **A minute earlier...**

"Enough waiting," the Duke said. "We shall begin without Hordor and the two women. They can be dealt with when they show up." _Or crawl out of Hordor's bed._ "Dark One, kill them all."

"All? A very inspecific request," the Dark One said. "Who would you send against the ogres?"

"Very well, begin by..." and an idea crossed the Duke's mind. "Before you kill him, reveal to us what creature this man before me would become."

"As you wish, my commander," the Dark One said, and cast transformation upon Archie.

Archie pushed away from the boys and even away from the soldiers who had been keeping close to the three of them. And he began to re-become what he had been the night before, only more completely this time. Hungry mandibles clicked and chittered as the claws of his arms tore through the air, all the while whipping antennae back and forth.

In all their time with the Duke, his wife and his mistress had beheld a great many things, but this was sufficient to encourage them to duck behind the throne, only peeking their eyes out.

The Duke, meanwhile, laughed and clapped at the novel beast before him.

"What...What are you?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.

The question was sufficient for Archie to use it as a lever to slowly take back control of himself. _Urges,,,urges,,,powerful,,,_ as he stilled himself externally, though the battle raged within.

"Now, kill him," the Duke instructed the Dark One. "Then destroy Rumpelstiltskin."

"But I thought you said -" Rumpelstiltskin said.

"I am the Duke. I am not accountable to you."

Baelfire and - to a lesser extent, Henry - didn't tear their eyes from the still form of the Dark One.

"Destroy them both," the Duke said. "Destroy both families!"

The Dark One did not move.

"That was my command," the Duke said, his tone and hand gesture emphatic.

Still, the greatest power in the land did not budge or speak.

"I am your master, Dark One! You _will_ obey me!" the Duke said.

As if in answer, the Dark One's hands emerged from the bottom of his long-sleeved cloak, hands curled around an invisible shaft. "Yes," the Dark One said quietly, but was audible to all in the silence of the throne room. "Very good."


	7. In my end is The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The birth of a new era was not easy, but it happens.

"Very good indeed," the Dark One said. But he was not looking or aiming towards the prisoners any more.

"You are mine to command!" the Duke shouted.

But the Dark One tilted his cowled head a bit, and said, "A silent wish. It has been a while..." and raised one hand, magical energies glowing around it.

The throne arms wrapped around the Duke's arms, throne legs doing the same to his legs. "Release me this instant!" he ordered the Dark One.

To no avail. "There is no more purpose to your speech," and the Dark One made the Duke mute.

Even when Hordor and additional troops arrived, everyone held their positions until the Dark One at last turned, minutes later, to face one of the room's corridor entrances. In came Ruby, Captain Jones, and Milah.

"Time to kick butt and take names," Ruby said. "Or at least finish this Hail Mary pass."

"What are you?" Captain Jones asked.

Ruby opened her mouth to answer, but dropped to all fours, her tail swishing to and fro.

"But that's not supposed to happen," Henry said. "It's supposed to be that -"

"Each thought qualifies as instruction," the Dark One said. "They need not be spoken aloud." _And the Dagger-holder's thought agreed with Jones' question._

"Is that so?" Milah asked.

"It is," the Dark One said, kneeling before her.

"Then you know what I want."

"I do."

Rumpelstiltskin looked down to see if he was suddenly limpless or otherwise able to charge into battle. _Nope._

"Say it," Milah said.

Says the Dark One, "You expect me to protect your family, escorting you to a suitably far-away place where his cowardice is unknown."

"Surely if you are enthralled to obey in all particulars," Rumpelstiltskin said, "then it's rather more than just expecting."

"That's true," Jones said.

"Think it through, Captain," the Dark One said. "If I am only tasked with the safety of their family, what will become of your ship when they are done with it?"

"Nothing will happen," Milah said.

"You sound confident, my new master. But I remind you that so too was my old master. You hold the power. But can you control me, you small creature?" the Dark One asked her, looming over her. "Small and weak thing that you are, how long can you hold on?"

 _That's not a good idea,_ Rumpelstiltskin thought.

"Will you set me free? I tend to revenge upon the families of those who hold me in thrall."

Archie paused. _Never **smelled** a lie before._

"Quiet!" Milah barked at him.

A slow nod, and the Dark One held out one hand, a vague sphere of power rotating above his palm. Eminating out from it were thoughts from various points in the day:  
 _Rumpelstiltskin: Maybe this will be enough. I may be afraid to be a coward in new places, and my fears kept Milah and Bae from being honored -- but they will both be honored and respected now, no matter what happens to me._  
 _Baelfire: "Nobody would tease me any more than they would tease the children of the king or the Duke."_  
 _Belle: "Rumpelstiltskin lost his wife and son. Even if we can't do anything else, we can stop the centuries of torment."_  
 _Henry: "For all the hardships they've gone through, I'd still trade places with Baelfire if I could - he's got a real family, the sort I would've loved to have when I was growing up."_

Prompted by this, Milah ran to Bae and Rumpelstiltskin, who ran to meet her. What ensued was a verbal melee of "I'm sorry"s and "No no, I am"s and "Shh, it's okay"s and "I love you"s.

 _If nothing else, that's a good first step,_ Archie thought. _The heat of the moment can be a good forge to improve relations and feelings for al ong time afterwards._

"What are your orders?" the Dark One inquired.

"Go away," Milah told him.

And the Dark One obeyed, leaving in a small cloud that dissipated rapidly.

Seconds later, he re-appeared, right behind the family.

Milah pushed Baelfire and Rumpelstiltskin away from her just enough so she could swing around, stabbing the Dagger through her overshirt and deep into the Dark One, using the momentum to knock him to the ground. "Get away!" she growled.

The Dark One began to chuckle, to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Milah wanted to know.

"You're as much a desperate soul as your husband. I know how to recognize my own kind," as the Dark One fled Zoso's face, leaving him to die a mortal.

Wordlessly, Rumpelstiltskin and Bae came over to wrap their arms around Milah, to offer what support they could.

Milah hissed at what felt almost like contact burns on her hands, and pulled a greening-and-greying hand away from Zoso's corpse...the Dagger coming with her hand.

Before the killing stroke, the blade had read _**ZOSO**_.

Now the blade read _**MILAH**_.

She stood and turned to face the Duke. "This is how you did it?" Milah asked him.

The Duke said nothing.

"The Dark One - the other Dark One," his mistress offered, "made him mute."

"Then speak, you silent one," Milah said, letting this be a test of her newfound power.

"It is," the Duke said. "If anyone attempted to prevent their family members from being drafted to fight the ogres, the Dark One had orders to restrain them until they stopped trying."

"His ace in the hole," Red the Wolf said, and then blinked in surprise. _Wow, when she says 'speak' it's pretty all-encompassing. Cool beyond words - wait,_ with an inward smile.

"Your future has strange proverbs," Milah said.

"That we do."

"Momma?" Baelfire asked.

"I'm here, Bae," Milah said, holding out her arm for him to join her at her side; Rumpelstiltskin stood a step behind Bae, in the hope she would motion for him next. "Now, your Dukeness, I say to you - go - fight - ogres - yourself," and the throne released him, and the Duke vanished from the room.

To the Duke's wife and the Duke's mistress, Milah said, "Your thoughts, majesties?"

"We have no claim to you or over you," the Duke's wife said.

"None," the Duke's mistress agreed.

"We would be happy to abdicate so you might rule the people."

Milah felt something she suspected may be a close kin of the terror Rumpelstiltskin had felt when facing the oncoming ogre forces. _I can't rule. I never could. Our household ran best when my husband was doing the wifely things like accounting and records._ "No. The two of you rule. As caretakers or regents or however you fancy calling yourselves." 

Now that she was the Dark One, an idea crossed Milah's mind. "May I?"

Despite having little to no idea what was being requested, the two women behind the throne nodded. "If there is anything we can offer you, Dark One, name it and it is yours."

That said, Milah gave a slow nod and, with a graceful turn (even more graceful in Rumpelstiltskin's and Killian's gazes), Milah took her time walking towards Hordor. "You once told me I would be very impressed by your tattoo. Now lets take a look at it," holding one semi-scaled hand out before her, palm facing forwards.

 _This should be interesting,_ Killian thought. _Fortunately, I never mentioned having tattoos. Spent what little time I knew her, telling her about other lands._

Hordor shook his head rapidly and opened his mouth to say 'nonononono!' --

...but what happened was that his sword clattered to the ground, because flamingoes cannot hold things.

"Well that's disappointing," Milah said. "But I didn't know I could do that much," _thought my transformational power would begin small, like removing whatever article of clothing covered his tattoo._ "So..."

Nothing happened, aside from a film of purple mist appearing momentarily around Archie and Ruby. "Nothing?" Milah asked, and had a thought: "If I can't break down the front door of your curse, then maybe the wall..." and tried again.

 _Wasn't that in a Hallmark Channel movie?_ Ruby thought, but found herself rising to stand - fully clothed - on two legs once more. As was Archie, fully-clothed and all. "Thanks," Ruby said to Milah.

"You're welcome," Milah said, "Though I'm not entirely sure how I did that, or..."

 _Or what the cost was to us?_ Archie guessed. "We're not complaining. Thank you."

She smiled and nodded acceptance.

"One thing more..." Milah said, and Belle appeared in the room. She looked around at who was here, and saw who the Dark One was now.

"I have some questions for you," Milah said.

"Okay," Belle said, and let herself be walked out of the room.

Rumpelstiltskin and Archie and Killian gathered around the fallen body of Zoso. "Wonder how long he was planning this," Rumpelstiltskin said.

"Some men begin planning their escape the moment they're captured," Killian said. "Others may not try to escape, but they pass the time by looking at opportunities and thinking how to seize them."

"In any event, it's over," Archie said. Ruby and Henry each came over and wrapped an arm around him. Bae did likewise with his dad.


End file.
